ABSTRACT
Clinical issues affecting families of gender-variant people have received little attention in the medical literature. Transgendered people have too often been viewed as people without families, or, sadly, as though their families are disposable. Transitioning, especially as it is viewed within the medical model, too often has been framed as an either/or option-to transition or to remain part of their families. One clinician, a colleague, said, “I encouraged him to cross-dress secretly until he was really ready to leave his wife and live as a woman”—as if a separation was inevitable when the client disclosed his gender issues and living with secrets was healthy for a marriage. Attempts to receive clinical treatment for family issues are often thwarted by insurance companies that not only will not cover “gender identity” issues, but also will not cover therapy for family members coping with the impact of those issues. One insurance company refused to reimburse the wife of a male transsexual. They said, “It is not her problem.”
